Say someone searched your name online. What do you think they’d find? What if some clicking brought them to things like your medical history, notes from psychiatric sessions or kids’ medical exams, or your Social Security and driver’s license number?

If you don’t like the sound of that, you might be interested to know that the FTC has announced a settlement with GMR Transcription Services, a company that promised “Security Measures to Protect Your Confidentiality,” for failing to protect personal information.

Strapped for cash? You might think an online payday loan is a quick and easy way to help stretch your money. But before you enter your bank account or any other personal information on a payday loan website, back away from the keyboard! That online payday loan might be a window to a scam.

Quick. In 2012, what was the number one complaint submitted to the FTC?

You guessed it: Identity theft. And it has been the number one complaint for 13 years straight.

That makes Data Privacy Day the ideal time to think about how you can protect your identity.

Latanya Sweeney, the FTC’s Chief Technologist, recently told us that something as simple as an online resume could be a treasure trove for identity thieves. It turns out that a web search can reveal the names, Social Security numbers, and birthdates of thousands of people because this information appears in many online resumes.

This just in: The revision of the FTC’s free guide, Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online, is hot off the press. The booklet has updated tips for parents, teachers, and other adults to use when talking with kids about online safety and digital citizenship.

As news trickles out about retailers that have been hacked, you may be wondering what you can do to protect yourself from fraud. Even if you’re not sure that your accounts have been affected, you can do a few things to protect your accounts, your money, and your credit reputation.

Being a victim of identity theft can be complicated and frustrating. While it may take time to figure out what happened and begin to fix the damage from this crime, there are programs and trained victim service providers available to help you through the process.

Quick: name a way your kids could rack up hundreds of dollars in charges in under 15 minutes without you being the wiser.

One answer: through an app on your iPhone or other Apple device.

Today, the FTC announced that it has reached a settlement with Apple, resolving allegations that the company didn’t get parental consent for many of the charges racked up by their children in kids’ games.